"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
They had made the wrong choice.
All of their years of ruling and the wisdom which motherhood and age lent them had not assisted the two queens in the fairies test. They had gone left and failed.
But Lie, Hyaline's General, he had chosen correctly. Young, fresh, and determined he had continued his grueling trek across the frozen island at the fairies request.
Somehow it is incredibly fitting.
As she was transported by magic away from Icicle Island she could only hope he and her daughter were safe and their mission successful. But after Solace's own attempt to cure the plague had been gently declined, the gold splashed mare had returned to Silver Cove with all the speed that the renewal of her wings had allowed. She had pulled her frail newborn son to her breast and savored his warmth and sleepy smiles, passing the night in golden contentment with him and Kagerus at either side.
Each time it was harder to pull herself away.
But she does. Alone Solace returns to her Kingdom, her heartland, her home. On this day six years ago, Amet had entrusted her, wide-eyed and innocent, with Hyaline. Maybe if half of Beqanna hadn't been infected by a gruesome plague it would have bee a day of celebration, but instead, there is a sadness in her eyes that is hard to shake.
But she doesn't want them to see it. Lie and Kensa deserved better; so as she calls for the young couple Hyaline's Caretaker focuses on the wonderful symmetry of the situation and all the good that will come of it.
With a sweeping motion of her broad, cerulean wings Solace lands by the lake-shore just as she had done thousands of times before, never doubting that she soon be met by her Ambassador and General before the afternoon.
S
olace
we're reeling through an endless fall we are the ever-living ghost of what once was
I know Lie is still questing but I felt like putting this up today
Don't feel bad if you wait to reply until you know the outcome of the quest!
11-30-2018, 08:34 PM (This post was last modified: 11-30-2018, 08:35 PM by litotes.)
but you’d never get hit without earning it and i only hit you first ‘cuz i deserved my own hit too still it comes the time to call you out since i’m the one that you should be about
It is on the Mountain that Litotes rests. When the quest is over, and the fairies grant them their gifts, he collapses into a nearby cove. The rock is uncomfortable and the cold nearly unbearable, but the plague and the journey have left him too weak to go on. Here, he sleeps, dreaming of the fairies and the strange magic he felt when they placed their gift upon his face. Dark gray shale scatters and falls as he shifts in his sleep, twitching and rolling at each weird scene.
The dream shifts, from strange magic to dark shadows (as dreams so seem to do). The General launches up from his sleep, stumbling about until his legs are splayed precariously upon the shale. He blinks several times to clear the exhausted fog from his eyes, studying his shaky legs as they barely hold him up. Lie rights himself then leans against the cove’s cool wall, still dazed from the day before.
The familiar call of Solace is what finally wakes him. The cremello shakes out his mane to begrudgingly walk down what little path he has left down the Mountain. As grumpy as he is, he is excited to meet with the kind-hearted woman. Lie usually finds himself refreshed any time he speaks with the Caretakers.
His trip to the lake is quick - about mid-morning when he finally arrives. The stallion spots Sol’s brilliant blue wings from across the lake, but pauses on the opposite shore. He remembers the tingling on his muzzle - remembers that the fairies changed him. His hooves disturb the water as he steps into it, but once the surface settles he can see the silver fade on his nose. He blinks, surprised, but leans closer to study the little silver snowflakes permanently on his face. A weird pain starts in the pit of his chest and spreads like poison: Beqanna has changed him so much in so little time.
Lie swallows back the strange lump in his throat, turning to find Rune weaving between his back legs with her tail high in the air. She projects her sympathy - smoothing over the ruffled edges of his mind - and follows him to Solace.
“Solace,” he says, then dips his head and reaches out to brush noses. “Kensa will be here soon, I’m sure.”
12-03-2018, 06:19 PM (This post was last modified: 12-03-2018, 06:20 PM by Kensa.)
for every tyrant, a tear for the vulnerable in every lost soul, the bones of a miracle
He isn’t home yet.
She waits on the overlook. Wildflowers, spring new, fragrance the air. From her vantage, high above the lake, her eyes can follow the rutted trail that she is certain he and Rune will use to come home to her. Kensa plays a game with herself, where if she looks away for as long as she can he will appear when she looks back. It’s a game she loses a number of times before Solace voice rings out over Hyaline.
Kensa watches her Queen soar down toward the lake and wishes--not for the first time--that she could leap onto wings herself. Instead she is left to back out of the aspens on the ridge and trot through she and Lie’s little meadow before picking her way down the mountain. She isn’t as swift as she usually is, her breathing rales. Her rich chocolate coat is thinning, turning dull and failing to catch the light. When she makes it down just beyond the lake she must stop to catch her breath. Perhaps waiting for Lie has made it harder to rest. Yes, that must be it.
The journey to meet Solace comes with great reward. As happy as she is to see the mare, she could not have imagined the relief and pleasure that finding the tall pale stallion returned brings. There may be a lack of decorum in greeting Litotes first, but Kensa has always been very organic and she cannot stop herself from sliding up alongside Lie, and pressing her face into his mane and against his neck. She wants to fill her lungs with him, taste his skin, check that he is returned to her whole and as well as he can be in these circumstances. There will be time for that though and she pulls her face back, giving Solace a sheepish smile before coughing--a dry hard cough-- over her opposite shoulder--shaking her head slightly to clear it when she turns back. “Welcome back. Both of you.” She says, voice thin but as sincere as ever.
They haven’t spoken much since the return to Hyaline, and Kensa longs to hear how everyone fares in the cove. “Your new little one is safe in the cove?” She asks, hopeful that all is well with this newest member of their kingdom, glad once again that those dear to them all had the safety of Silver Cove.
kensa
for every dreamer, a dream. we're unstoppable with something to believe in.
Her suspicion is confirmed, and she doesn't wait for long. As Lie approaches, Solace returns his gesture of greeting. She reaches out her muzzle to exchange scents in the ancient way, and a deep nicker reverberates within her breast. It was more important now, this anchoring display, as the world around them is changing so quickly.
Kensa isn't far behind, and Solace allows the couple their space as they reunite. A secret smile plays at the corners of her lips as she watches them; united, the two young council members would be a force to be reckoned with.
Their attentions return to her and Solace nods in response to Kensa's question. "He is," she says, "He and Kagerus were about to patrol the beach when I left." She already aches to be reunited with them, her mind never quite at ease when she was away. The times when it was truly at easy were few and far between, as the issue of her older children's safety and whereabouts weight greatly on her mind. "It seems it will be a while yet until the smoke settles though, we are still missing some residents. How have you two been holding up here?"
It was more than she could manage to keep track of her family, Hyaline barely seemed to have a place in her mind anymore. It shouldn't be like that.
But as she looks into her General's and Ambassador's young, eager faces she feels a sense of relief, and it shows on her usually curated features. "Have any stragglers wandered in recently?"
S
olace
we're reeling through an endless fall we are the ever-living ghost of what once was
but you’d never get hit without earning it and i only hit you first ‘cuz i deserved my own hit too still it comes the time to call you out since i’m the one that you should be about
Solace’s returned greeting offers some relief, allowing a gentle smile to spread across Lie’s face. It is not long before Kensa’s scent draws close, causing the General to turn his head to watch her approach. She slides into his side, warm and sweet and everything he did not realize he needed until just then. The plague anxiety slips away, the exhaustion slips away - Kensa offers him strength when he is lacking. He curves his neck around her, nibbling at parts of her face he can reach.
A fleeting moment, but an important one - their attention quickly returns to Solace.
The thought of their little one patrolling draws a smile back across his mouth. How wonderful, he thinks, to raise a child in that way. The cremello resists the urge to cast a curious look at his dark counterpart, thoughts of a hypothetical child far too inappropriate for this occasion. Litotes’ eyes stay soft as he listens to Sol’s questions, resisting the urge to gush about Hyaline immediately. His excitement for his home is overshadowed by the violence of sickness, but his heart still beats for caring for it. Where the land is barren, the General sees opportunity for new life.
“Well,” he pauses, swallowing back the pain of discussing the couple’s sickness, “the both of us are sick, though I will seek out a healer for us soon. The days are not so hard as one who is plagued when we have such a peaceful land.” A wry smile twists his lips and darkens his eyes into something almost bitter. Peaceful, sure, because they are almost entirely alone. He does not allow that poison to spread, an apology on the tip of his tongue for even thinking it - focusing instead on the faces he has seen in Hyaline.
“I have yet to see anyone who is already a citizen of Hyaline. To new faces, we offer refuge here while still redirecting to the Cove for those that do not want to risk sickness - there have been a few of those,” Lie pauses again, allowing that information to register before continuing. “Another thing . . . I - well, I believe the plague has changed my DNA. Once I got sick, I started shifting into a lion. Perhaps Yidhra and Pangea can do something with that information.”
There is a lull, causing the cremello to stare at the ground while digging a single hoof into the dirt.
for every tyrant, a tear for the vulnerable in every lost soul, the bones of a miracle
A smile tugs at her mouth when Lie nibbles at her, and there is a bright full feeling around her heart. That feeling grows as Solace talks about the new prince. She imagines a little prince frolicking spindly-legged beside Kagerus as they perform their important duty.
Of course, the imagined child is the color of sunlight after a moment, and her mind replaces Kagerus with Litotes or herself and she knows in some deep honest way that her partner is thinking similar thoughts. Kensa doesn’t give herself away to Solace either, but tucks those dreams away, a secret, warm and joyful. “I’m happy to hear it. I’ll have to come out and meet him.” A pause, remembering herself and the sickness that has taken hold of her. Still she puts a smile back on. In Silver Cove the boy would be safe even from the sickness that she and Litotes carry about with them. She doesn’t let herself think of how long this would go on, if her own children would be safe.
The chestnut girl listens quietly as Lie speaks his piece, bobbing her head once to agree with almost everything. “Rhynne did come through, with a boy she’d taken in, Symba. She was worried about plague and I sent her on to the Cove.” Other stray Hyalinians continue to be unaccounted for but she watches the borders every day for them all the same. When Lie talks about his change, she bumps her muzzle against his neck to tell him her following words are not entirely serious. “It was quite the shock to me. I have not had any such alteration, though. Hopefully Yidhra won’t want to do any experiments on you, darling.” She teases, picking up where he drifts off.
“Is there anything we can do, Solace? Anyone we can look for?” These more serious questions are posed as she considers that there may be those that Kagerus and Solace are particularly concerned for, and as they are already sick they can risk places that Solace should avoid, especially since she needs to be strong for her new little one.
kensa
for every dreamer, a dream. we're unstoppable with something to believe in.
